


dare not confess

by peytonpeach



Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Love Confessions, M/M, Minor Haruno Sakura/Yamanaka Ino, Uchiha Sasuke & Yamanaka Ino Friendship, Uchiha Sasuke Has Issues, Uchiha Sasuke-centric, ino helps, sasuke doesn't know how to deal with his feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:08:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24889657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peytonpeach/pseuds/peytonpeach
Summary: “You should tell him,” she says, working her scarred hands through his hair. He starts to shake his head, but she nudges his shoulder. “No moving while I’m working, Sasuke.”“Yeah, yeah.” He replies, and Ino nudges him again for the attitude in his voice. His lips turn up in a slight smile, but quickly turn back down when he thinks of what she said. “I don’t think I will. Ever.”
Relationships: Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 8
Kudos: 146





	dare not confess

**Author's Note:**

> tumblr: softharuno  
> title is from dracula by bram stoker

Sasuke’s cape feels like a great weight upon his shoulders, and it’s stifling in the heat, but he keeps it on. It’s better than looking at his lack of an arm — the scarred, mottled skin makes him want to gag every time he sees it. 

From his place high in the trees, he watches as Naruto passes on the road below him. The people around him call out to say hello or offer to buy him a bite to eat, but Naruto just waves them off and smiles like he’s the goddamn sun, and—

Sasuke closes his eyes and hits himself for his thoughts. He hates being inside his own head sometimes. 

“Sasuke,” Naruto says softly from his new spot on the tree branch next to him. It shocks the hell out of Sasuke and he jumps up, almost reaching for a kunai before he recognizes the voice and presence beside him. “Hey, Sasuke.”

“Naruto.” He says in cold return, choosing to look down at the road again instead of facing the man next to him. He feels Naruto shift on the branch, and he immediately regrets his tone. He tries to remedy it, but finds that it’s hard to be delicate even when he wants to be. Even when it’s Naruto. Naruto smiles and Sasuke tries to keep eye contact for more than two moments, and then Naruto notices his effort and smiles even wider and Sasuke’s chest hurts. “How are you?”

“I’m okay, Sasuke. Getting used to some things.” He lifts up his stubby arm, longer than his own because of the Hashirama cells trying to generate a whole new limb. Sasuke feels sick when he looks at the white flesh. Naruto pulls his sleeve down when he sees the look on Sasuke’s face. “And how are you?”

“I’m here.” He replies, and it’s how he feels. Seeing Naruto being loved by the town brings both positive and negative emotions, and he’s not sure how to process those. He knows Kakashi-sensei lectured the village on providing a safe and comfortable space for Sasuke to return when he was released from the hospital, which basically entails the citizens ignoring him rather than facing all the terrible shit he’s done to them. He’s not sure which he would prefer. 

Naruto sits with him on this branch, silent, for a few moments. Eventually, Choji calls out to him and he turns to give Sasuke an apologetic look and a light touch on the shoulder (and Sasuke tries so hard, he tries so hard not to flinch, and he sees the hurt in Naruto’s eyes when he does, and he wants to cry and kiss him and run away and scream). And then Naruto is gone and Sasuke doesn’t know how to feel or what to do. 

\--

Somehow, Sasuke has talked to Ino the most since he returned. Kakashi-sensei told him it would be a good idea, and he turned out to be right. 

She talks about her father. He cries, but he doesn’t talk. She enters his mind with the jutsu Inoichi barely had time to teach her and she cries and holds him for hours after. Sakura finds them curled up together, refusing to let go until their limbs are pried apart. 

Mostly, they sit in the field from which Ino sources her flowers. They lay on their backs and watch the sky. Ino weaves flowers into bracelets and crowns for the kids that come into her shop. Sasuke pulls blades of grass out of the ground and rubs them with his thumb until they lose shape. She braids his hair once it’s long enough, and he’s grateful. It’s hard to push hair out of your eyes when the hand you’re used to using is gone. 

“You should tell him,” she says, working her scarred hands through his hair. He starts to shake his head, but she nudges his shoulder. “No moving while I’m working, Sasuke.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He replies, and Ino nudges him again for the attitude in his voice. His lips turn up in a slight smile, but quickly turn back down when he thinks of what she said. “I don’t think I will. Ever.”

“I’ve never met someone so oblivious.” She says, amusement evident in her voice. Sasuke twists up his face in an expression that makes it obvious he disagrees with everything she’s about to say. “He talks about you. And the way he looks at you... I know that expression. It’s the same I had when Sakura used to fawn over you.”

He almost laughs at the mention of how Sakura used to be with him -- especially because now, Sakura is thoroughly tired of him. He stays at their apartment most of the time, just sitting, watching. Waiting to feel okay. She’s part of what makes him feel better about touch again — she punches him softly often and it’s easier to be touched when it feels like it’s closer to something you deserve. 

He ignores Naruto most of the time. Sometimes he sees him from the tall trees and buildings he likes to sit in, and he can’t pull his eyes away. He mouths the words he can’t say. He wonders what Naruto would say back.

Naruto is Sakura’s best friend, though, and he comes over for dinner often. Sasuke always makes an excuse to not be at dinner that day, but Ino knows. She leaves a plate for him on the stove and gives him a look when he climbs through the window as soon as Naruto has left. 

Bit by bit, he lets himself talk to Naruto. He watches Sakura and Ino in love and he wonders if he could let himself have that. He watches Naruto watch him, and he decides he could.

\--

He sits on the balcony of the guest room he barely lets himself occupy and hears the gust of wind as Naruto appears next to him.

“Sasuke…” he says. 

“I love you.” Sasuke tells him. 

“Yeah.” 

“You don’t have to love me back.”

“I know.” Naruto says, quickly. Sasuke looks at him. “I do anyway.”

Sasuke inches his hand closer and Naruto takes it immediately. He kisses each of Sasuke’s knuckles, and then holds his hand up to his chest like a prayer. 

“I always have.”


End file.
